Written by

From mid-September to late October, Vermont honors the fall harvest with more festivals than there are shades of red, orange and gold glowing from the hillsides.

One of my favorite traditions of the season is Sukkot, the weeklong Jewish harvest festival, which we are lucky to celebrate annually with friends in their Charlotte back yard.

Every fall, they erect a sukkah, a temporary outdoor structure made from tree branches draped with fabric, to follow the biblical instruction for Sukkot: "Ye shall dwell in booths seven days."

Although some people do sleep out under the stars, the more common practice these days is to eat a week's worth of meals under the sukkah's open roof of branches and sky.

Supposedly, the sukkah tradition evolved from the shelters farmers built to keep 24-hour watch over their crops at harvest time. Sukkot was also a pilgrimage holiday, so the booths symbolize campsites on the way to Jerusalem. Over the years, the sukkah has come to commemorate the portable shelters of the exiled Jews.

This is the ninth year in a row we have joined our friends for a Sukkot meal, usually centered around an array of seasonal, warming soups, along with foods that are stuffed or filled to represent an abundant harvest.

Over the years, our kids, who once reveled in hanging colorful gourds from the sukkah and still enjoy the ritual of shaking the lulav (woven branches of palm, myrtle, and willow) and etrog (citron), have grown into teenagers. Next year, a few will be off at college.

The 4-year-old who once explained to me so aptly, "The Jews were wandering in the middle of the desert. The sukkah is like a square Jewish teepee," is now an articulate and poised young woman who stands a few inches taller than I.

She's also vegetarian, so the stuffed pumpkins and acorn squash I brought our recent Sukkot meal were vegetarian, although you could brown a little turkey or lamb sausage and add it to the pilaf if you like.

I was lucky to be gifted a nice hunk of foraged Hen of the Woods mushroom (a true symbol of nature's wild harvest) that I roasted along with the squash and mini pumpkins and then folded into the nutty Vermont wheat berry pilaf. I used dried Vermont-grown cranberries, apples and smoked paprika to add the sweet-spicy-smoky notes often found in Jewish Sephardic cuisine.

As always, the meal was delicious and, despite the fall chill, three families managed to squeeze into the sukkah and celebrate the many kinds of abundance in our lives.

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut each squash in half across the middle and remove seeds and any stringy bits. Cut a small slice off the stem and blossom end of each squash so the halves can sit flat on their bottoms. Lightly oil a large baking sheet and place the squash flesh-side down. Roast until tender and cooked all the way through, but not collapsed, about 40 minutes, but will depend on type of squash.

2. Slice or tear mushrooms into bite-size pieces and toss in a baking dish with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in the oven with the squash until golden and a little crisp at the edges, 25 to 35 minutes depending on type of mushroom.

3. In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat until it shimmers. Add carrot and leek and cook, stirring occasionally, until leek is softened and turning golden, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add garlic and apple with smoked paprika and one-half teaspoon salt and stir well to combine. Cook for about 3 to 4 minutes.

4. Add wheat berries and stock to the pot. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered and stirring occasionally, until wheat berries are tender, 40 minutes to one hour depending on age and type of wheat berry. Stir in roasted mushrooms and chopped dried cranberries. Taste pilaf and adjust seasoning as desired.

5. Place roasted squash halves on their bottoms in a large roasting dish, fill each half generously with pilaf and top each with a sprinkle of cheese. Pop back in oven to melt cheese and warm through. Serve hot or warm.

Note: Pilaf-stuffed squash halves may be refrigerated for up to 24 hours and reheated in a 350-degree oven. Sprinkle with cheese and increase oven temperature for a final blast to melt the cheese.

Ingredients notes:

 Smoked paprika is now available in most large supermarket spice sections. You can substitute sweet paprika or just omit it.

 Wheat berries are unmilled kernels of wheat, which cook up to a nutty, pleasantly chewy texture. Locally grown wheat berries are available in the bulk bins of co-ops and natural food stores. Any variety will work in this recipe but some will cook slightly faster, so start checking them at about 40 minutes. Pearl barley, rice or quinoa would work, too, although you might need to adjust cooking times and stock quantity.